Economy

CHICAGO - Catholic elementary and high schools are increasingly turning to the tax-exempt debt market to finance their capital projects, according to bankers at Ziegler Capital Markets, which recently closed a deal for the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Mich.

SAN FRANCISCO - Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski this week proposed billions of dollars in transportation spending to stimulate the economy and rebuild the state's transportation infrastructure.

SAN FRANCISCO - This month, California voters issued a mandate for a high-speed passenger train system linking the southern part of the state with the San Francisco region.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and a Belgian bank failed to reach an agreement yesterday that would unwind a leaseback deal in exchange for a $17 million payment from the transit agency, but the parties will return to federal court for a third day this morning to continue negotiations.

WASHINGTON - A U.S. District Court judge yesterday pressed KBC Bank NV of Belgium to accept a settlement to unwind a leaseback arrangement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in exchange for a $17 million payment from a trust account kept by the transit agency for lease payments on the deal.

Standard & Poor’s last week lowered its underlying rating to A from A-plus on DCH Health Care Authority’s debt and maintained a negative outlook on the credit.

CHICAGO - Not-for-profit hospitals have been hard hit by recent capital markets turmoil, as providers have been forced to postpone debt sales while facing failed remarketings, negative swap valuations, and stricter covenants from a shrinking pool of credit providers, according to a pair of reports out this week.

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will get back into the debt market next week with a negotiated sale of $98.3 million of grant anticipation notes after delaying the deal for a month.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority board yesterday advanced plans for more than $1.7 billion of bonding by a dozen borrowers, including the University of Chicago, and hired a new executive director - the state's former top fiscal officer, John Filan.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners last week approved a $930 million 2009 spending plan for the county’s health and hospital bureau, the first budget under a new a new independent board that took over the fiscally troubled health system earlier this year.

A deal to purchase Pontiac’s bankrupt North Oakland Medical Center came through at the 11th hour last week after Michigan agreed to a deal to sell the facility.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority could vote on potential toll increases this Friday to help offset growing debt service costs as state officials continue to map out legislation that would allow MassPike to be dismantled and folded into two other agencies.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials met with the Federal Reserve late Monday in a last-ditch effort to urge them to step in as guarantor on a leaseback deal the agency entered into with a Belgian bank. The move came just ahead of a U.S. District Court hearing today that will decide whether WMATA should remit a $43 million termination payment to the bank on the deal.

Chicago’s proposed $2.5 billion lease of Midway Airport to private operators is on a glide path to win Federal Aviation Administration approval possibly before the end of the year following a required public hearing on the deal last weekend.

At the request of the Federal Transit Administration, New Jersey officials increased the estimated cost of a new passenger-rail tunnel that will run between Newark and Manhattan to $8.7 billion, a $1.1 billion boost from the project's earlier cost estimate.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has to close a $1.2 billion deficit in the next fiscal year, MTA officials said at a special finance committee meeting yesterday.

DALLAS - Denver's National Jewish Health has seen its rating from Fitch Ratings slip one notch to BBB from BBB-plus after reporting a $5.3 million operating loss amid a weakening balance sheet. The downgrade brings Fitch in line with Standard & Poor's on the nonprofit's $44.9 million of debt.

CHICAGO - As General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. reported grim third-quarter earnings Friday, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm warned that the state, just a few weeks into its fiscal year, already could face a deficit reaching up to $600 million.

Fitch Ratings last week changed its outlook on the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to stable from negative, citing recently approved toll increases that will help liquidity and fund needed capital improvements.

Amid continued strong demand and recent firmness that saw some yields decline as much as 12 basis points in spots during new-issue pricing last week, a $750 million revenue offering from the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority will further test the strength of the market this week.